Tag Archives: Throwback Thursday

Believe it or not, it’s almost entirely truthful. I condense and streamline experiences for space constraints, and add a punchline here and there, but it’s all based in truth. In fact, there are anecdotes that I haven’t used, because I figure that readers will doubt their veracity.

For example, how I conquered my childhood fear of the dark with the help of The Love Boat.

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Filed under Bad Influences, Don't Know Don't Care, Faint Signals, Girls of BIUL, Idiot's Delight, Nostalgic Obsessions

Tagged as 1970s, 1977, Aaron Spelling, Bernie Kopell, Dune, Ed Asner, Fantasy Island, Fred Grandy, Gavin MacLeod, Get Smart, Halloween, Jack Jones, Jackson Browne, Lauren Tewes, Mary Tyler Moore, New Jersey, Ohrwurm, Paul Williams, Star Wars, Ted Knight, Ted Lange, television, The Love Boat, Throwback Thursday, WKRP in Cincinnati

08/04/2016 · 2:13 pm

Elton John

Okay, look. This is what’s called an in medias res strip. The action was in progress before you started reading.

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Filed under Comix Classic & Current, Faint Signals, Girls of BIUL, Movies You Missed, Nostalgic Obsessions, Saturday Movie Matinee, Thousand Listen Club, Unfairly Maligned

Tagged as #tbt, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 1997, 2015, 2016, AIDS, Atlanta, Bands I Useta Like, CalArts, comic, corporate crap, Dick Tracy, Disney, Elton John, England, Georgia, Ken Russell, Marilyn Monroe, matte painting, movies, music, Natural Born Killers, paparazzi, Phil Collins, political correctness, Princess Diana, Rolling Stone, Ryan White, Savannah, Savannah Mall, sellouts, Sir Elton Hercules John CBE, Star Wars, strips, Tarzan (Disney), The Lion King, The Who, Throwback Thursday, Tommy, Warren Beatty, Watership Down, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

05/19/2016 · 2:29 pm

Puttin’ On The Hits

I don’t hate karaoke. Really, I don’t.

I don’t do it myself, either, but I don’t equate it with actual performance. Karaoke is for fun; a diversion. Plus, I’m old enough to remember the first karaoke joke on The Simpsons, when the gag was that it was something Japanese people did. It was the successor to the camera strapped around the neck.

Now, not only is karaoke available in a home version, but late-night talk show hosts burn air time “lip-syncing” “popular” (corporate-backed) songs. The boring blond from Amos & Andy For Nerds, excuse me, I mean The Big Bang Theory, lip-synced her way through a Ludacris song where almost every other word is “bitch”. The idea being, look at this little white girl act “gangsta”. As long as the star is corporate-backed, this is “empowerment”. What do you imagine happens if someone without a hit show* tries this? Continue reading →

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Filed under Don't Know Don't Care, Faint Signals, Idiot's Delight, Worst Of All

Tagged as #tbt, 1980s, 1984, 1986, 1988, air guitar, Big Bang Theory, Dick Clark, Dr. Seuss, farts, Fergie Olver, improv, Just Like Mom, Kaley Cuoco, karaoke, lip-syncing, Ludacris, New Jersey, NYC, Puttin' On The Hits, Richard A. Clark, Ron Howard, sellouts, The Gong Show, The Simpsons, Throwback Thursday

05/10/2016 · 6:44 pm

Kidd Video

Parallel universes figure into popular science fiction every so often, but whereas now they are used to explain inconsistencies, in the past they were an intriguing alternative to outer space as a setting. The short-lived TV show Otherworld from 1985 is one example, with its no-frills labels (like in Repo Man) and dumb upside-down pistols. A better-known version of the concept is the cartoon Kidd Video, which aired on NBC Saturday mornings around the same time.

(l-r) Ash, Whiz, Kidd, Carla. Yes, the nerd with yellow hair is called “Whiz”.

Everything I’ve mentioned thus far sucks to varying degrees (well, except Repo Man). But because of that “parallel universe” icing, the crap tasted sweeter than cake. Continue reading →

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Filed under Animation Analysis, Don't Know Don't Care, Faint Signals, Girls of BIUL, Idiot's Delight, Nostalgic Obsessions, Zappalogy

Tagged as #tbt, 1980s, corporate crap, Frank Zappa, Kidd Video, music, music video, NBC, New Jersey, Otherworld, parallel universes, Saturday morning cartoons, Throwback Thursday

03/17/2016 · 12:00 am

Tool

Check it out, I wrote my very own Tool song:

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Filed under Bad Influences, Comix Classic & Current, Don't Know Don't Care, Faint Signals

Tagged as #tbt, 1990s, 1993, 1996, Alex Grey, alternative music, Aperfectcircle, Bands I Useta Like, Bill Hicks, comic, depression, despair, industrial, Maynard James Keenan, metal, Mr. Show, music, parental advisory labels, posers, Puscifer, suicide, Throwback Thursday, Tool, Transformers

02/24/2016 · 6:22 pm

Thatch

Do you still read comic strips? If so, where?

If you read them in a metropolitan newspaper, you are reading syndicated comic strips. This is the traditional method by which comic strips are published. Syndicated cartoonists can make big bucks because they get a fee for every different newspaper they appear in, and then there’s the merchandising. Seventy years ago, it was not uncommon to see syndicated cartoonists living large alongside movie stars. They were feted as a new style of raconteur. At his peak, the artist of Dick Tracy got a shiny new Cadillac, every year. Syndication is the ultimate goal of the working cartoonist. Continue reading →